Six to Twelve

Sun rays filtered through the blinds at about Six. By 7, I had my breakfast. By 8, I logged on to internet. I had got a mail that I had to pay my T-Mobile Cell Phone Bill. I went to www.t-mobile.com and entered user id (which is the same as my phone number) 2692679621. I entered the pwd. An x-digit number. To pay the bill, I had to provide my 16-digit credit card number.

I left home to office in my 1994 Volvo 850. I had the engine checked up over the weekend. Engine or battery check locks the stereo system. I had to reset it using another x-digit number.

I reached office by 9. To enter into the office building, I had to swipe my card and punch in a 6 digit code. Once I reached the desk, to see mails from offshore, I logged on to https://xnet.infosys.com (Infosys Intranet for onsite employees). User id as harsha_rao and pwd of a 6-digit number that comes off the Secure ID after entering the 4-digit Secure ID number that is assigned to me. As my Infosys Mail server pwd was getting expired, I had to re-type the x digit alpha numeric old pwd and create another y digit alpha numeric new pwd.

With this new y digit alpha numeric new pwd, I logged onto my Infy mails and went though the offshore mails. To get more clarity in the issues raised from offshore, I called up the Infosys Offshore number. 1800-ITLINFO. Then 1. Then my 5-digit employee ID (18549) and #. Then the 6-digit PIN given to me and #. Then 1. Then 1. Then the 5-digit Offshore extension number. It went to voicemail. Voicemail asked me to press 0 to transfer to another extension. I pressed 0. It then asked me to press the extension to which I want to get transferred to. Another 5-digit number. Once I did that, it asked me to confirm by pressing #. Once done, it went to the extension. But unfortunately, it went to voice box again.

Frustruated, I hung up. I now had to call the offshore person's cell number. There was an official phone card to be used. Its an 11 digit number. And then, had to enter 01-91 and the 10 digit cell number and #. And then 10 digit authorisation number. Thankfully, the call went through.

Next, I thought, I will give my home a call. Went to www.relianceindiacall.com. User id was my 11 digit authorisation number and PIN was an x-digit number. Once recharged, called up 1800-RELIANCE and the same 11 digit authorisation number and the same x-digit PIN. And then, entered, 91-80 and the 8 digit home number. No one picked up. Again, had to repeat the same process, but in the end, called up 91 and the 10 digit cell number.

My pop raised some concerns about my financial stability. So, logged onto www.dcu.org (My bank in US) and entered the 7 digit membership number and an x-digit password. The figures in my account was not so reassuring. Now that I was logged onto DCU, I thought I might as well update the bank details in Pay World (Infosys extranet link that needs the bank and other legal details for salary processing at onsite). I updated the Pay World link with my 9 digit SSN, 9 digit routing number and 8 digit checking account number.

Going back to the financial-stability-concern topic, I wondered how much money I had in my Indian account. So, I went to www.icicibank.com and entered my 9 digit user id and x digit alpha numeric pwd under the 'personal' tab. Was not satisfied with the figures there as well.

It was time to transfer some money to india. So clicked on 'Money2india' tab and entered the 9 digit user id and x digit alpha numeric pwd to log on. After transferring money, I logged out and browsed through my personal Email domains of yahoo and hotmail (each requiring different user ids and x- and y- digit pwds) to check if there were any significant mails to respond to. There were none. However, there was a notification of a scrap left in my Orkut Scrap book. So I logged onto www.orkut.com with my user id and another x-digit pwd. Browsed Orkut till I got bored.

I then logged onto exchange mail server of client domain with my x digit pwd. Once I was done with a few meetings, it was almost lunch time. Instead of using credit card, I used my debit card (which necessitated me to punch in an x-digit pwd for transaction to complete). Had an interesting tete-a-tete with colleagues about the greatness of the Man's mind, considering all the numbers that one had to remember these days in order to just live through the day!

Back at my desk, I went to the official library site and logged in with my 14 digit user id and x digit pwd. After requesting a few DVDs and nice books, I logged off and suddenly realised that I had to work on a few bugs assigned to me. I logged onto client's official Kintana (Defect Tracking) web site with my x digit pwd.

Once done working on those bugs, I thought I might as well check out the health benefits for which I am eligible in Aetna. One more user id and pwd. Then I thought about the salary slip that would have been posted onto the ADP site. One more user id and pwd.

Time to go home. Reached home and realised I had forgotten to upload mails to offshore. Connected remotely to office machine through RSA Secure ID 6 digit PIN number. While I was busy with this, I got a missed call on my cell. Looking it up, there was a voice message for me. That needed an x digit pwd for me to punch in before I can listen to the message. I called back the person who had left the message and had a nice hour-long chat on who will quit next.

Once done with that, had some junk food and faked it to work as dinner for the rumbling tummy. Logged onto internet once more and chatted with dear pals on "What to do in life". Realised, its been one long day, blogged this one out, and hit the sack at Twelve.

My Day!

Happy Birthday to yours truly!

Tribute to a Legend

Only a few can be what Dr Rajkumar was….
It is with regret that I have to say 'was'…

May God Rest his Soul in Peace…
Dr. Raj, I bow down to thee...

Endaro Mahanubhavulu...

There are people......and there are extraordinary people.

Many a great men have been to this world, and many more will come. They have in them an aura of Supreme Divinity, and super human powers of unscalable measures which all but makes the others around stand in awe.

They are people whom people look upto in times of crisis. They are people who give so much to the world and to the others. They make the impossible possible. They give excitement to the Life and make something to look forward to. Life is enriched by their presence. They are worthy of Honour and of Immense Respect. Few are known to the world but many die a desert rose.

I cannot count the number of great people I know, but each one has been special in his or her own way. And for each of them....

...Andariki Vandanamulu

The Satan Speaks...

Everyone commits a crime.
Everyone commits a sin.
And not everyone intends to harm, but due to situational oscillations, in the end, the Repent stands out Tall.
And by that time, its a point of no return, and the damage is irreparably done.

The conscience of the Act makes one never to forget what one did, and makes sure future is not going to be the same happy self that it was.
Yet, one tries to make one's life as same as it was and act as if nothing happened.
But, the fear lurks that the sins of a person will always return.
And it surely does.

Its just a matter of time...

Letting go...

For every man, there comes a moment to "let go".
It is but the quirk of fate that makes us all to "let go".
The heart takes a leap and twists itself in remorse, but all we can do is "let go".
Tennyson : "Men may come and men may go, but I go on forever."

Finishing college is to "let go"
Bidding farewell is to "let go"
Aging is to "let go"
Denise McCluggage: "Change is the only constant. Hanging on is the only sin."

Euthanasia is to "let go"
Amputation is to "let go"
Tsunami victim: "I held my 2 sons. To save one of them, the other I had to let go"
Sidney Sheldon: But its the Fates. You cant fight the Fates.

For situations of "letting go"
As a mark of respect to times of "wow"
One can only remove the hat, and give a respectful bow
Alistair MacLean: And just continue to be the Puppet on a chain

What Achilles had in his heel, I have it in "Letting Go..."

A long day at office...

Summer of 1987.
I was 7 years old. Me and my elder brother had a terrible physical fight, bruising ourselves almost to the extent of having permanent scars. My mom had intervened and did her act of scolding (which invariably follows with crying) and threatening to complain to dad. I formulated all the wrong things my brother had done which had ensued The Great Battle, so that my case wins over my brother's in my father's court.

Soon, the clock ticked 8 PM and sure enough, my dad's car turned up over the driveway. My brother and me ran to the car just as it stopped, hoping that the first man gets justice. As it happens in cases when the judge's gavel is just not powerful enough, both of us started shouting over one another, justifying our actions. My mom simply stood at the doorway and gave a brief description of The Duel to my dad and went inside. My dad too went inside the house, turned, and closed the door, leaving me and my brother out in the driveway. We were locked outside the house for more than I could care to recall. I could sense the trickle of a tear. I felt bitter towards my dad.

Today, I realised, if my kids had come running to me, complaining to me about their petty quarrels, just as I reached home after a long day at office, I guess I would have done far worse than what my dad did...

The Odyssey begins...

Summer of 1997.
"So, what are your plans after BE?" I asked my senior Sid.
"I will head for higher studies...GATE, perhaps."
"Wow. Isnt that supposed to be difficult?"
"Was CET difficult?"
An uncertain shake of the head.
"Is BE difficult?"
Again an uncertain shake of the head.
"It is just the thought that puts you off. Once you start, leaving behind the apprehensions, and cross the threshold, you will be in a different world altogether. All that is needed is to enter the door and the rest will be history."
I always remembered this conversation. Whenever I wanted to push myself to do something new and apprehensive, I remembered Sid's advice.
I never pushed myself hard for higher studies, but I sure crossed the threshold of creating my own blog after months of speculation....